The Forgotten
by Wendy.Marvell.SDS
Summary: It's been one year since Natsu had defeated Zeref and ended the war with Alvarez, but he has been in the dark ever since with a faux feeling of peace. What has the entirety of the guild been hiding from the dragon slayer? What's this empty feeling in his heart that he has every morning he wakes up in that apartment? My take on the END and Lucy theories. Hope you enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

_**"I'm not gonna have control for much longer! I don't know what to do!"**_

 _ **"Shhh…. It's okay…."**_

 _ **"Wait, what are you-"**_

 _ **"Remember that I love you…"**_

 _ **"No! Come back, don't do this!"**_

* * *

Natsu came back to consciousness with an agonized cry, sitting up in his bed with his hand outstretched as if he was reaching for the girl in his dreams. He stared at his hand, not even bothering to steady his breathing or his racing heart as he slowly made a fist. He had been having these nightmares every night for the last couple of weeks now, but whenever he tried to recall the girl in his dream all that came to mind was a flash of gold and a blinding white light that contained so much emotion that it could drop you to your knees.

"Oi… You just had that dream again, didn't you? A lazy voice floated over to him.

Natsu finally dropped his hand to look over to where his fellow guild member Gray Fullbuster was leaning against the wall in his apartment. As usual he was only dressed in his usual pair of dark jeans, arms crossed just under the blue Fairy Tail mark stamped on his chest.

"Ya, even now the dream still doesn't make- HEY! What the hell are you doing in my apartment?" Natsu yelled suddenly, jumping out of bed to face him angrily.

Gray merely rolled his eyes, completely unfazed by his sudden outburst. "Erza sent me to wake your lazy ass up. Everyone is meeting at the guild for breakfast, we're probably going to be looking for a job to go on today as well." He informed him, waving his hand as if for added emphasise.

Natsu glared at him in annoyance. "And this was all so urgent that you didn't even have time to knock, so you just decided to lean against the wall and watch me sleep?"

Gray looked like he was ready to punch him. "Shut it, Flame Brain, I wasn't watching you sleep. Besides, you were the one who was constantly breaking in to this place before-" And just like that he was quiet, a flash of panic going through his eye so swiftly that Natsu almost missed it. "Che, whatever, just hurry the hell up and get to this guild." Then he was gone, making a hasty escape out the door.

Natsu watched blankly while Gray made his escape. What the actual hell was that about? That wasn't even the first time he had caught one of his friends in something as strange as that. He turned a bit to look over his shoulder at the sudden ruffling of the sheets. When he looked down he met the big eyes of his partner, Happy, who was staring right back up at him.

"Morning, Natsu. How are you feelin today?" He asked in that over hyper voice he usually had nowadays.

"Fine as usual." He responded, already feeling distracted. He reached over into his dresser and pulled out his favorite open shirt and pulls it on over his shoulders, missing the look Happy got in his eyes when he inspected the room.

"So you cleaned the apartment again...? It wasn't even that messy…" He said quietly.

Natsu looked down at him in surprise. The way the little blue exceed was looking around the room made him feel bad for cleaning the place again. Happy looked sad when he scanned the room.

Natsu simply shrugged, walking towards the window. "This place needs to stay clean. Don't ask me why, it just does."

"I know why…" Happy whispered, but Natsu didn't pay any mind to it.

"I'll meet you at the guild when you're ready." He said quickly, jumping out the window.

Natsu and Happy had moved into this apartment about a year ago, though Natsu never understood why it was so important to Happy at the time. Natsu had completely refused to move into such a small place, claiming that they didn't need to buy an apartment when they had a perfectly good house that they didn't need to pay for, but then Happy had started crying. He has sobbed and begged Natsu, the agony in his voice so painful that Natsu had finally caved, and even to this day Natsu had no idea why it was just so damn important to his partner. He lifted his arms and leisurely put his hands behind his head as he continued his trek to the guild, becoming completely lost in thought. This past year had been the most peaceful year that Fiore has seen in a very long time. After Fairy Tail had come together and used Lumen Histoire to defeat Zeref, there hasn't been a single thing to go wrong in his life. Natsu stopped dead in front of the guild, his eyes going unfocused as a flash of gold crossed his vision and a soft voice whispered in his ears.

 _ **"Remember that I love you…"**_

"Who loves me…" He said in a quiet voice, looking down at the back of his right palm, a habit he had gotten over the past year.

The battle with Zeref had left him with multiple scars, but it was the pink scar on the back of his hand that had made such an impact on his life. Every time he found himself looking at it he would become overwhelmed with emotions that didn't make sense to him. H would feel sadness, anger, emptiness, and an emotion he couldn't quite put his finger on, but it filled him with warmth no fire could match. Natsu found himself frowning. The more he thought about things that didn't make sense, the more he realized that this entire past year had been a complete mystery to him, and not a single person had been willing to fil in the blanks or answer any of his questions. Shaking his head as if trying to physically clear it he tore his gaze away from the scar and finished his short walk into the guild, pushing open the doors and walking inside. As usual the normally boisterous guild became a fraction quieter and it filled with an air of poorly contained anxiousness. This was also something that had become a constant in the past year. Everyone treated him differently, ranging from being nervous, sad, slightly upset or even just avoiding him altogether. He ignored the atmosphere before it started putting him in a bad mood, walking to sit at the bar and quickly being greeted by Fairy Tails' Mirajane, former s-class mage turned friendly bartender. She was one of the people who treated him almost the same as before, but every once and a while he could sense sadness coming from her, mostly when she was looking at a certain door. As if they had read his thoughts, he heard said door click shut and looked up quickly to see Levy and Cana exiting the basement. Both girls looked completely worn out, pale complexions and puffy eyes as if they had been crying. Levy looked up as if sensing his gaze, offering a tired small and a small wave as Cana walked over to Mirajane and handed her the key to the door.

Did he mention that he was forbidden from just looking at the door, let alone going in the basement? To begin with, technically no one should have been allowed to go into the basement, but when Natsu, Gray and Wendy had discovered that Lumen Histoire was actually Mavis Vermillion, the cat kinda got out of the bag and soon the entire guild knew. It was only a few days after the war that Erza and Gramps had told him he was never to go into the basement. Of course he had thrown his world famous temper tantrum until Erza had threatened to kill him and feed his body to Happy, then he had calmed down and let it go for a while. Even to this day Erza would whack him over the head if she caught him staring at it. Natsu looked down at the table in attempt to hide his growing smirk of mischief. Tonight was the one year anniversary of Fairy Tail ending the war, so everyone would be in the streets celebrating, including everyone in the guild. Tonight was the night that he finally got to do what he has been wanting for a year now, even though he knew he was going to pay for this with his life. It was finally the night that he would find out what they were hiding from him in the basement.


	2. Chapter 2

It's like every single one of they had this uncanny ability to tell when Natsu was planning to do something they told him he wasn't allowed to do. They always knew when he was going to break the rules, and it was extremely inconvenient of them right now. Natsu grumbled as he dragged his tired feet in pursuit of Erza, Gray and Happy as they departed their clients' house after completing a job with surprisingly minimal damage. The pair had insisted on going on a job that would take them the majority of the day to accomplish, but leave them with just enough time to make it back for the festival.

"Hurry up Natsu! If you keep carrying on like that we'll never make it back for the party!" Erza called back to him, throwing him a warning glare over her shoulder that guaranteed punishment if they were late because of him.

Natsu simply sighed, forcing his feet to go faster as he tuned out the whispers being shared between the two mages ahead of him. He couldn't however ignore the constant glances he was getting from all three of them, as if checking to see if he was going to try for an escape. This was behavior that he knew well. For weeks after the battle everyone in Fairy Tail had kept a close eye on him as if he was going to either run away or set the place on fire. He wasn't even allowed to be at home alone, either Erza, Gray, Wendy or surprisingly Cana stayed at his place, and he could always sense hostility from the card mage when she saw him. Another thing that still made him uncomfortable to this day was that during those first couple of weeks, people seemed almost scared of him, like he was going to attack them or something. He remembers that he had to lose control over his dragon force to fight Zeref long enough to destroy him with Lumen Histoire, but he had snapped out of it quickly after that. So he never understand why everyone was so wary of him. He frowned as he tried to recall exactly how he had snapped out of it, but whenever he thought about it all he could see was a flash of gold. He has been having this problem a lot lately, parts of his memories being fuzzy or just missing. A few years before the war was when things started to become shrouded in fog, as if there was a part of his life that had been stolen from him and erased from his memory.

"-never with them anymore."

A voice broke him out of his daze, making him slow his pace and look around in search of the voice. What he soon discovered was that two guys were speaking quietly to each other, but they were frequently sending glances his way.

"No one has even seen her since the battle, maybe she was killed?" The second guy said, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"She was such a big part of their team though, there's no way that something happened to her and no one would hear anything about it." The first one reasoned, sending him another glance that finally made him stop walking and concentrate intently on their conversation.

Part of their team? It's always just been him, Erza, Happy and the Ice Princess. Maybe they were talking about Wendy. She did used to go on plenty of missions with them over the years, but after the war ended she spent the majority of her time with Carla in the guilds basement. Which reminded him…

"That would be heartbreaking… Not to mention that blond sure was something else."

Natsu's entire body went rigid at their final words. A blond. The girl with the golden hair, the one who made a constant appearance in his dreams. Pain pierced his heart, forcing him to his knees. She was there when it happened, she's the one who snapped him out of it. She saved him, but from what? He was terrified, and she had simply smiled and said that everything would be okay. A wave of emotions washed over him, threatening to drown him in the sudden onslaught of memories surfacing. It was choking him, pulling him into the darkness. The last thing he could see were the panicked faces of his friends as they sprinted over, then he finally gave in and let the darkness take him.

* * *

 _ **There was fire everywhere. Flames, broken buildings, bodies strewn across the floor. Natsu could feel the despair and horror thick in the air, all mixed with the sharp sent of blood. He had no idea what was happening, and he couldn't remember ever seeing such a horrible sight in front of him. He could feel tears streaming down his face, but why was he crying? He was responsible for this, that's why, but he couldn't fathom why he would ever do something this terrible, no matter what situation he was in. Natsu felt a soft pressure on his shoulder so he turned his tear stained face enough to see a flash of gold.**_

 _ **"I did this…" He whispered, the words coming from his mouth without his consent, the broken sound of his voice adding to his growing panic.**_

 _ **"Natsu… This isn't your fault…" Just the way she said his name made him want to fall into her arms and cry like a child.**_

 _ **"It's because I wasn't strong enough to fight back…. I was too weak, and I couldn't get control back before I-"**_

 _ **"You did though. You're back now!"**_

 _ **"I can feel it clawing to the surface though! You have to get as far away from me as possible!" He pleaded, trying to look up to see her face but he had no control over his body.**_

 _ **"Trust me… I'm going to protect you…"**_

 _ **"You can't! Please, you need to run, you need to run right now Lu-"**_

* * *

Natsu sat up abruptly in bed, sending Happy flying away from him with a yelp. Lu, that's all he could think about now. Lu, was that her name? He doesn't know anyone with such a strange name, and he can vaguely remember meeting someone once named Luigi. There wasn't anyone in the guild with a name like that, and he doubted anyone knew someone with that name, even though he was going to grill them about it later. What kind of messed up dream was that?! That one was a million times more vivid than any dream he has had before, so why did things change now? While he was having his inner tirade, he soon realized how tense the atmosphere in the room had become. Natsu finally looked up and his eyes widened in surprise. Gray was standing tensed up in his ice make position with Happy hiding behind him, giving him a scared look. Erza seemed only a little calmer, standing there and giving him a calculated look, though he could see her hand closed tightly over the hilt of her sword.

"Natsu…?" Happy asked nervously after a very uncomfortable silence.

"Yaaaa? Who else would it be?" He tried for a joke to lighten the mood, but it only seemed to make them tenser, if that was even possible at the moment.

"You fainted while we were walking home, so we carried you back and brought you to the guilds infirmary." Gray said quietly, not putting down his hands, which were now making Natsu a little irritated.

"How are you feeling?" Erza asked slowly, eyeing him with her unreadable expression she has perfected for when she was around him.

"I feel fine now, though I'm starving." He admitted, his stomach growling to emphasise his words.

The trio instantly relaxed, making Natsu give them all a suspicious look that was also mixed with confusion.

"You'll have to get some food at the festival considering how everyone is there right now." Erza said told him softly before walking out the door with Gray following quickly behind.

"Are you coming too, Natsu?" Happy asked him brightly, gliding around in the space beside his bed.

"I'll be there in a few minutes, I just need some time to wake up completely." Natsu almost whispered.

Happy hesitated for a moment, clearly worried about his friend, but finally he nodded and flew out the door after the others. Natsu stayed in bed and counted to thirty before throwing the blanket aside and leaping to his feet, walking cautiously out of the room and into the main hall. It was completely deserted, which was perfect for him. He smiled evilly to himself as he turned the corner and stopped dead in his tracks, praising whatever angel had made his guild mates in such a hurry that they didn't close the basement door completely. Of course not a single thought as to why it was open crossed his mind, he only took this golden opportunity and almost sprinted through the door, closing it quickly behind him. Thankfully all of the torches were lit so he could see the first step, otherwise he would have fallen down all of these stairs just like the last time he came down here. The first couple of steps he almost ran down, excited but cautious at the same time, but that feeling quickly faded away to be slowly replaced by other emotions. With every step he took the more and more anxious and nervous he seemed to become, spooking himself with all of the possibilities of what could be down there. By the time he reached that final step his legs were shaking and he had broken out in a cold sweat. Something was wrong, horrible wrong and it was making him breathe heavily and actually regret his decision to come down here. He was panting lightly as he forced his legs to take him slowly over to the door looming in front of him, holding out his hand in preparations to push it open before he could change his mind. The moment his hand made contact with the cold metal of the door was when he heard it; a steady thumping sound that reminded him of a heartbeat, and he vaguely wondered if someone was down here in that room until he realized that it was much too slow to be normal.

"Fairy Heart."

The deep voice came from absolutely nowhere, causing Natsu's hand to recoil from the door and for him to jump almost ten feet in the air. A torch was lit to reveal Master Makarov walking out of the shadows, one hand behind his back while giving him a tired and sad sort of look.

"F-Fairy Heart?" Natsu stuttered in fear, eyes darting around while looking for his escape route, he wanted to live at least another day so he decided to try and keep the old man talking as he looked for his way out.

"Yes, as in Lumen Histoire." He continued, donning that same tired voice he had gained this past year.

That made Natsu finally stop panicking long enough to look down at him. "Wait… But Mavis was released from that spell. Lumen Histoire doesn't exist anymore, Gramps." Natsu said carefully.

Makarov simply sighed, slumping his shoulders while shaking his head. "It's hard to believe that an entire year has already passed... I've been waiting for this day, but dreading it as well…"

"You're making no sense." Natsu said bluntly, crossing his arms with an agitated look.

Makarov looked up at him with such an intense stare that it made him instantly want to flee Fiore. "It's time, Natsu."

"T-Time?" He squeaked, trying to back away but was stopped by the stone wall.

"For you to remember, you brat." He said impatiently, walking past him and putting his hand against the door. "It's time for you to meet the light of Fairy Tail." He slowly pushed the door open, and Natsu shielded his eyes from the sudden blinding white light. "It's finally time for you to remember our fairy."

* * *

 _I'm Back! I am so so so sorry that I have been gone so long, and I wanted to do this little blurb in the first chapter, but I posted it without even thinking. It's been well over a year since I promised another multi-chapter fan fiction, and for some reason I lost my drive for writting... But it's back with a vengeance and I promise to keep updating this every few days. I would love your support and reviews for this, good or bad. It was because of the reviews I continued to get for Casting Shadows over this past year that i found my will to write again, and I just realized how much I have truly missed it. This story is based off of theories and discussions on how a few fans think the battle betweem END and Lucy is going to happen, and every single one of them made me sad but squeal like a school girl at the same time, so I just had to write down my own ideas for this. Thank you all who have already reviewed, followed, and favorited this story, I promise I won't let you down!  
_

 _See you guys soon! 3_


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